Indian equity market ended lower with the Sensex slumping 275 points and the Nifty also falling by half a percent. The Nifty Bank and broader markets outperformed, offsetting losses in largecap stocks of Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys. The Nifty IT was the weakest sectoral index with heavy selling seen in the stocks. Axis Bank, SBI and Yes Bank shares contributed 75 percent to Nifty Bank gains. Nifty Pharma ended as the top gainer on surge in Dr Reddy's and Wockhardt shares. Here are the main highlights from the stock markets today:

Nov 21, 2018

15:44

Closing Bell: Sensex, Nifty close lower, midcaps outperform

The Sensex ended 275 points lower, down by 0.77 percent, at 35,199. The Nifty was able to hold the crucial level of 10,600, ending lower by 0.53 percent, or by 56 points. The Nifty MidCap surged half a percent, while the BSE MidCap also rose by 0.64 percent. Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys were the top three drags on indexes, while HDFC, M&M, PowerGrid, L&T, ITC, Tata Steel and Wipro also weighed down indexes. Support from Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Maruti Suzuki and Yes Bank wasn't enough to offset losses from the top three drags. Among percentage gainers, Dr Reddy's Labs ended 6.5 percent higher, Yes Bank, Grasim climbed more than 3 percent, while Bajaj Finserv and UPL ended more than 2.5 percent higher. Axis Bank, Adani Ports, SBI, Asian Paints were other major gainers. TCS, Infosys, Power Grid Corp fell between 3.3 and 3.53 percent, while Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Bajaj Auto were also among major losers.

Meanwhile, benchmark indexes continue to trade weak with the Nifty hovering at above 10,600 levels, down by nearly half a percent. The Sensex traded weak, down by 285 points, or 0.80 percent, to trade at 35,189.

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Nov 21, 2018

14:58

ICICI Bank large deal at Rs 356 per share on NSE

Shares of ICICI Bank traded at Rs 358.65, marginally up by 0.21 percent on the NSE at 2.57 pm. The private sector lender's shares were exchanged in a large trade deal with 75.6 lakh shares worth Rs 270 crore changing hands at an average of Rs 356 apiece.

Shares of Jet Airways rallied over 6 percent intraday on Wednesday after CNBCTV18 reported that its promoter Naresh Goyal is in Abu Dhabhi for talks with Etihad for bailout. The discussions involve around leveraging JetPrivilege to raise funds. Jet Airways shares traded at Rs 324.20, up by 4.46 percent on the NSE at 2.43 pm. IndiGo shares traded at Rs 1,054.35, up by 2.05 percent, while SpiceJet was up nearly 6 percent, trading at Rs 82.85. Meanwhile, the Sensex traded lower by 200 points, or 0.56 percent, to 35,275, while the Nifty reclaimed the 10,600 mark, trading at 10,619, up by 37 points, or 0.35 percent.

Adani Gas locked in upper circuit Adani Gas was locked in 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 97.80 on Wednesday after the company expanded its pan-India presence by bagging 13 city gas distribution (CGD) projects.

"AGL has bagged authorisation from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, Government of India to expand its city gas footprint in 13 new geographical areas (GAs) in the recently concluded 9th round of CGD bidding," the city gas distribution arm of the Adani Group said in its filing.

In addition, the company has also won 9 GAs in its joint venture company with Indian Oil Corporation, i.e. Indian Oil - Adani Gas Ltd. (IOAGPL). (From Moneycontrol)

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Nov 21, 2018

13:17

8K Miles Software Services locked in upper circuit, jumps 100% in November

Shares of 8K Miles Software Services ltd were locked in its 5 percent upper band limit of Rs 137.30 after opening. The stock had closed at Rs 130.80 on Tuesday. Shares of the Silicon Valley-based but Chennai-headquartered company have surged 101 percent so far this month as concerns over corporate governance abated. The stock has been gaining for the last 13 days and has risen nearly 125 percent in the period, according to a marketsmojo analysis.

Meanwhile, benchmark indexes trade weak on global cues and foreign fund outflows. The Sensex traded 286 points lower at 35,188, while the Nifty slipped to 10,586, down by 70 points at 1.10 pm.

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Nov 21, 2018

12:30

Citi cuts Sun TV Network's target price

Citi maintained buy call on Sun TV Network but slashed target price to Rs 800 from Rs 830 earlier. The global research house raised its FY19 estimates by 2 percent but lowered FY20-21 estimates by 4 percent given various investments. Sun's business is steady as earnings are re-based, up in FY19 due to domestic subscription revenue and IPL.

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Nov 21, 2018

12:16

Minda Corp up 10% on stake sale in JV to Furukawa group

Shares of Minda Corp. rose as much as 10 percent to hit their one-month high of Rs 144.80 as the company will sell some of its stake in Minda Furukawa Electric to Furukawa Group of Japan. Furukawa Group of Japan will raise its stake in the joint venture to 75 percent from 49 percent, and Minda Corp. will hold 25 percent stake. The Japanese company will achieve this by buying shares from Minda Corp and through additional equity infusion. So far today, 447,040 shares of Minda Corp have been traded on NSE, over two times the daily average volume of 192,646 shares.

Shares of Yes Bank rose nearly 5 percent after the bank said its board will meet on December 13 to consider short-listed candidates for the post of managing director, recommended by its search panel. Yes Bank said its search panel will meet on December 12 to review the final list of short-listed candidates. At 11.40 am, shares of Yes Bank traded 3.31 percent higher at Rs 198.45. Meanwhile, the Nifty traded at 10,575, down y 81 points, or 0.76 percent. The Sensex was trading at 35,139, lower by 335 points, or 0.95 percent.

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Nov 21, 2018

10:54

Bank of Baroda gains on plan to sell 4% stake in CCIL

Shares of Bank of Baroda gained 2 percent after the bank said it will sell 4 percent stake, or 2 million shares, in Clearing Corp. of India to HDFC Bank at Rs 620 a share, amounting to Rs 1.24 billion. Currently, Bank of Baroda holds 2.5 million shares of CCIL, representing 5 percent equity stake. Bank of Baroda has also invited expression of interest to sell Rs 42 billion of bad loans as it continues with its strategy of offloading non-performing assets because of a delay in their resolution.

Shares of Wockhardt jumped as much as 8 percent in early trade as a report said an appeals court in the US rejected Johnson & Johnson's request to prevent generic versions of drug Zytiga from entering the market. Wockhardt had a tentative approval for the prostate-cancer drug along with Amneal Pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson is still fighting a ruling that had invalidated the patent on Zytiga, allowing generic drug makers to launch the drug in the US. Zytiga is one of Johnson & Johnson's biggest revenue generators. The drug had sales of $1.42 billion in the nine months ended September 30, a jump of 71 percent from the same period a year ago. At 10.25 am, shares of Wockhardt which were up 4.17 percent at Rs 534.65, were among the top gainers on the Nifty 500 index.

Meanwhile, benchmark indexes extended losses with the Nifty dipping 73 points, or 0.69 percent, to trade below 10,600, at 10,583. The Sensex was at 35,158, falling by 316 points, or 0.89 percent.

The BSE Sensex traded at 35,386, down by nearly 88 points, or 0.2 percent at 9.20 am, while the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 10,647, lower by 9.35 points, or 0.1 percent. Broader markets started mildly higher with the Nifty MidCap up by 0.15 percent in initial trade. The Nifty Bank started on a flat note, up by 0.06 percent. As many as 32 sectors advanced with Nifty Pharma leading with 1.6 percent gains. BSE Oil & Gas also rose 1.6 percent. IT and metal indexes were leading the 11 declining sectors with BSE IT falling by more than 2 percent. Among top percentage gainers, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd, Indian Oil Corp., Asian Paints, Yes Bank, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma shares surged by up to 8 percent. Dr Reddy's Laboratories gained 8 percent in initial trade after a US court lifted the ban on the sale of the company's generic version of Indivior's Suboxone drug. Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, Eicher Motors, Vedanta, Wipro, Tata Steel were among top percentage losers, falling by up to 2.83 percent. Infosys, TCS, Reliance Industries and L&T along with ICICI Bank were top drags on both indexes. Support came from HDFC and Asian Paints along with SBI, ONGC and Kotak Bank.

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Nov 21, 2018

09:11

Pre-open update: Sensex, Nifty start mildly higher

The Sensex settled at 35,492.62, up by 18 points, or 0.1 percent, while the Nifty was at 10,671, up 15 points, or 0.1 percent at 9.08 am

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Nov 21, 2018

08:57

Dr Reddy's to gain, US court OKs Suboxone generic sale

Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories are poised to surge today after the US court ruled in favour of the company in the patent infringement case related to its generic of Indivior's Suboxone drug. The US court has also removed the preliminary injunction on the sale of the company's generic of Suboxone issued earlier this year. Brokerage firm Macquarie expects the sale of the generic in the US to add an additional $50 million-$60 million to the company's sales in 2018-19 (April-March). On Tuesday, shares of Dr Reddy's ended at Rs 2,443.15, down 3.4 percent.

Crude oil imports in October rose to their highest level in at least more than seven years, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed on Tuesday. Crude imports in October climbed 10.5 percent from a year earlier to 21.02 million tonnes, the highest monthly import figure in PPAC data going back to April 2011. Read more

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Nov 21, 2018

08:30

Raiding RBI's reserves not a credible way for government to cut fiscal deficit, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Raiding the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reserves is not a credible way for the government to reduce the fiscal deficit and that is actually an accounting trick, said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former deputy chairman of planning commission. "You can always get the RBI to transfer money but it has to control the total amount of money that it prints. So, if you take away more through this window then they will have to squeeze somewhere else. If they squeeze somewhere else it is the same thing as you are increasing your fiscal deficit and crowding out the private sector. So, it is not as if this is a free lunch that some calculation here will enable you to get a real resource that was lying unused, that is not actually true," Ahluwalia said. Read more

Intrigued by the Scoot story due to its revolutionary thinking, says Anand Mahindra

Speaking for the first time after signing a partnership agreement in June with American urban mobility solutions company, Scoot, Anand Mahindra, executive chairman, Mahindra Group, said he was Intrigued by the Scoot story due to its revolutionary thinking and vision of founder Michael Keating.

"We started manufacturing electric scooters in Detroit, designed in California, and it was a punt. We just designed this way before electric two-wheelers were in vogue. Interestingly, Michael Keating became a customer and then we got introduced to Scoot and I was intrigued and Mahindra Partners then decided to make an investment and we are major investors," said Mahindra. Read more

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Nov 21, 2018

08:09

Top stocks to watch out for on November 21: Jet Airways, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank, RIL

Indiabulls Housing Finance: The company on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 23,615 crore through various debt instruments from 32 financial institutions.

Mahindra and Mahindra: After signing a partnership agreement in June with American urban mobility solutions company, Scoot, Anand Mahindra, executive chairman, Mahindra Group, said he was Intrigued by the Scoot story due to its revolutionary thinking and vision of founder Michael Keating.

Jet Airways: The airline is in active discussions with various investors to secure sustainable financing, CEO Vinay Dube said, adding that the cost optimisation efforts have resulted in savings worth Rs 500 crore in the first half of the current fiscal.

Reliance Industries: The company's subsidiary Reliance Jio on Tuesday announced the launch of VoLTE based inbound international roaming between India and Japan.

What happened to stocks: Tech stocks were still the root of weakness. Weakness in oil prices hit the oil sector, as well as transportation. In retail, Target fell over 10 percent following disappointing sales forecasts.

Up ahead - US retail in focus: The US retail sector will remain in the spotlight approaching the US’s “Black Friday” holiday – which has now effectively become a week-long shopping bonanza, spreading Monday, November 19 to Monday, November 27. The National Retail Federation (NFR) says 30 percent of annual US retail sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas. While some are skeptical of its survey, NFR says shoppers spent an average of $937.13 in 2017 and estimate $10027.24 in 2018.

Jet Airways is in active discussions with various investors to secure sustainable financing, and cost optimisation efforts have resulted in savings worth Rs 500 crore in the first half of the current fiscal, its CEO Vinay Dube has said. In a communication to Jet Privilege members, Dube also said the airline is deploying aircraft on more profitable, productive and economically-efficient routes. Read more

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Nov 21, 2018

07:29

'FAANG' stocks lose $945 billion amid tech rout, says report

The "FAANG" stocks — Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet — lost $945 billion in value, reported CNBC. On Tuesday, they were all trading more than 1 percent lower in premarket trading. Goldman Sachs cut down its Apple price target due to a low demand for Apple's products in China and other emerging markets. Read more